FAA Broadens Maintenance Schools Proposal

Some three and half years after the FAA published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the regulations governing the curriculum and operations of certified aviation maintenance technician schools, the agency has issued a supplemental NPRM that would expand the scope of that proposal to allow competency-based training (CBT) and satellite training locations and eliminate the national passing norms specified in the quality of instruction requirements.

The modified proposal is based on the FAA’s response to the nearly 325 comments submitted on the original proposal published on Oct. 2, 2015, that aimed to modernize and reorganize required curriculum subjects and revise the curriculum requirements to include an option for schools to use a credit-hour curriculum as an alternative to an instructional-hour curriculum. The agency proposed these changes because the existing curricula in some areas are outdated.

After analyzing the comments, the FAA agrees with expanding the scope of the proposal. In addition to allowing schools to deliver their approved curricula using a CBT program and to permit satellite training locations for these schools, the agency proposes to replace the current national passing norm requirements with a standard pass rate that would apply to all schools. CBT and satellite training locations would be voluntary provisions.